I am afraid that quite often my blogging gets caught up with the luxury of eating and cooking, romance or entertaining. I confess that it is a hard subject to constantly be dwelling upon day after day. But this is really why I do what I do. I have committed my life to saving the animals and although it may not always be that obvious, it is what drives every action of my life.
As some of you may already know, I have been keeping up with the Dunkin Donuts Project with Compassion Over Killing : Dunkin’ Cruelty. The project is supported by a number of groups including Farm Animal Rights Movement, Action for Animals, and Vegan Outreach. I was surprised to find that PETA has not yet joined the initiative and cannot imagine why. Though on one hand, I am glad. It seems that lately PETA brings more trouble than support. (ahhh the joy of making mass amounts of enemies..)
Compassion Over Killing is asking Dunkin’ Donuts, the world’s largest coffee and baked goods chain, to stop using eggs and dairy in their doughnuts and also to offer vegan menu items. According to the dunkincruelty website there are approximately 6,400 stores in the United States alone and serve over 3 million customers a day. That is a lot of freaking doughnuts.
Supporters of animals rights have been stepping forward to contact Dunkin’ Donuts directly to ask for an end to the cruel practice that is involved in supporting the egg industry. I personally contacted the company by email and snail mail, neither graced a reply. I am not surprised. I am surprised though that alternative products are not being explored. One would think of the savings that the elimination of egg products could bring would spark a look into other options. However, subsidies for animal products are so immense that there is really no point while the right people are in power.
Today, COK came out with breaking news. An undercover investigator working for Michael Foods, the main egg supplier for Dunkin’ Donuts, exposed some horrific footage taken during the month of August. This should definitely make one double think that deep-fried, glazed, hunk of a heart attack breakfast.
Now consider these facts... There are more than 325 million laying hens in the United States that are confined to battery cages. These wire cages, which are stacked atop each other, are roughly the same size as a filing cabinet drawer and hold typically ten hens. Imagine playing a game of sardines with half a dozen people, except it lasts your entire life. Or living in a 7x7 foot room with 12 people. If you get weak and fall over, you’re trampled to death. You cannot stretch your limbs out without being entirely cramped or touching someone else. Chickens have their beaks sawed off with a hot blade so they will not peck each other to death in a stress induced fever. It cuts through bone, cartilage, and soft tissue. Anesthetic? Are you kidding? Their feet often get caught in the mesh of the cages, debilitating them-- they cannot reach the food and water and die slowly of starvation.
This is only a minuet aspect of the entire industrial egg production process... This is after the culling of the chicks to sex, picking out the females. Males are usually thrown away live, crushing and killing those underneath. Imagine a mountain of dying fluffy first day hatched chicks. Another way to dispose of unwanted males is to put them in live to a meat grinder/ wood chipper machine.
Then the pains of transportation, raising them to laying age, forced molting, problems of osteoporosis, egg bound hens, loss of feathers, pollution from waste matter... and on and on... not even mentioning what happens once they are spent and are no longer laying up to speed. This is usually after only one year of their lives. Chickens can naturally live up to 15 years.
This is heavy, I know. Yet, ignoring the facts will not change the practices that continue to take place every second. The suffering of non-human animals will not disappear when you turn your back. I urge you all to not only support the project dunkincruelty, but to also start to reconsider your own habits. Everytime you eat, every time you spend $ you are declaring your support of something-- food, practices, and companies. So think about it. What do you want to support? Every person counts, just as every animal counts. This is life and death.
http://farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/eggs/
http://www.animalfreedom.org/english/information/abuses.html#hens
http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming_chickens_egg.asp
http://www.ciwf.org.uk/farm_animals/poultry/egg_laying_hens/welfare_issues.aspx
http://dunkincruelty.com/
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